It’s good to see you tackling this head on so to speak vs sitting on the sidelines and feeling sorry for yourself.
As posted elsewhere*…
*(What workout did you do today? (2018/2019) - #3591 by Captain_Doughnutman)
When I get enough long rides into a 3-6 week period, my HR gets super stable and I can do those with HR staying the same. Biggest challenge for me doing them inside is my butt, I can go outside and ride for 3-8 hours without an issue but 2 hours on the trainer is literally a pain in the ass.
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I had/have to do something! Believe me, I definitely went through a pity party phase, but getting fat and wheezy was an even worse scenario. Even though it’s slow going – literally – there are still some analytical things I can dig into and various experiments to try, all in an attempt to keep things interesting while I wait for the doc to call. Worse case is that I create a fit and healthy lifestyle; best case is that I build an aerobic Hemi big block for next season. It’s just a good thing it’s summer and can ride outside, if I was going into winter doing this… 
Did a 3.5hr low-HR ride outside today and the RPE was at least half of my 2hr indoor rides.
Could easily do a 6hr outdoor MAF ride, could not…WILL NOT! do a 4hr indoor MAF ride.
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hard to see your HR in that graph (Wahoo app?), but it looked good to me.
I am most probably not aerobically fit. Nothing like further research and the retrospectoscope to figure things out. My goal is to have as big an aerobic engine as possible. The stars are aligning for a cross country trip next summer. As I finish up SSB II, I’m wondering if I should just jump right into MAF base training, plus weekend group rides. I was consdering repeating SSB.
better…
yeah, I think you were too hard on yourself in the Today’s Workout thread.
Give this a listen:
@bbarrera – it’s tough finding a FLAT route! ftw?! 
(the spike at the ~1hr mark is me “chasing” onto the back of a group ride…I have no self-control!!)
One glaring ‘weakness’ of outside MAF cycling is the very variable power, e.g. having to soft pedal/stop to bring HR back into zone. As this method is taken from running, where there is always power output (even when walking), is it truly 100% transferable to cycling as a training method? As I said in the Workout thread, HR control – in tandem with power control – is definitely a learned skill.
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Helps to have gears if you have hills…
For sure. However…knowing who I am, I would want to use gears to go faster, not slower! Have to habituate my mind+body to going slow, then I’ll introduce gears. Or maybe buy an old Sears 3-speed to limit the potential damage.
#MAFmobile
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Banana seats are MAF approved 
Serious old school! Ape hangers and banana seat! 
I like Coach Chad’s explanations better… finished that and back to my Chris Cornell playlist.
Maffetone came up with this formula after observing a lot of athletes. Ha wanted an simple formula that anyone could stick to. The heart rate is meant to correspond to VT1/LT1. If someone knows this then use that. My take on it is that the 180-age puts the heart rate below VT1 in virtually all cases not just in the majority. This is because the method was conceived primarily for good health and his belief is that it is not conducive To good health if you choose a HR which higher than VT1.
Duration question: let’s say I’m doing 10 MAF hours/week, is it better to do 5x2hr or 2x5hr? I guess a better question would be, what is better when it comes to MAF – frequency or duration?
If I do the 2x5hr on say Sun and Wed, is that too much time between sessions? And if I do the 5x2hr, are those rides long enough to be “productive”?
Thanks to the MAF experts!
My understanding is that the hierarchy goes like this:
- Total volume
- Session volume
So hitting 10 hours is better than 8, but 2x5h is likely better than 5x2h.
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I try and do 1 long session 4/5 hrs per week plus as many shorter ones (2+ hrs) as I can. If I do too many long ones too soon it leaves me very tired.
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#100!!! WOOT!
(small victories…)
If 100% of my MAF rides are in (power) Z2, is there any need to do Z1 recovery rides?
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